Asda beats its pricier rivals in hot cross bun taste test

THEY may not be one a penny or two a penny – but budget hot cross buns have come out top in an Easter taste test.

Asda’s 40p-per-bun option triumphed for flavour, aroma and colour, according to blind taste tests by consumer group Which?

Some 75 hot cross bun enthusiasts rated ten supermarket packs. Best of the buns were Asda’s ‘Extra Special’ Extra Fruity Hot Cross Buns at £1.60 for a pack of four, which scored 75 per cent.

‘The texture and moistness of these buns was what really impressed,’ the team said. Second place went to pricey M&S 4 Luxury Hot Cross Buns, which are £1.85 for a pack of four – 46p each – with a score of 74 per cent. And upmarket Waitrose’s Richly Fruited Hot Cross Buns, also 46p each, came last with a score of 60 per cent.

Packs from Iceland, at 25p a bun, and Aldi, at 32p each, were ‘decent’, scoring 69 per cent. Reena Sewraz, of Which?, said: ‘Our taste test results show that you don’t have to buy the most expensive hot cross buns to get great flavour.’